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Rocky
On November 25, 1975, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) is introduced as a small-time boxer and collector for a loan shark named Anthony Gazzo (Joe Spinell) and is living in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. The World Heavyweight Championship bout, with undefeated heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) defending against Mac Lee Green, is scheduled to take place at the Philadelphia Spectrum on New Year's Day 1976, the year of the United States Bicentennial. When Green drops out because of an injured hand, Creed and his entourage are stymied on what to do. Other contenders say there is not enough time to get into shape. Creed comes up with the idea of giving a local underdog a shot at the title and, because he likes Rocky's nickname "The Italian Stallion," he selects the relatively unknown fighter. He puts it in lights by proclaiming "Apollo Creed Meets The Italian Stallion." The fight promoter George Jergens (Thayer David) says the decision is "very American"; but Creed says, rather, that it is "very smart." To prepare for the fight Rocky trains with a 1920s-era ex-bantamweight fighter and gym owner, Mickey Goldmill (Burgess Meredith). Mickey always considered Rocky's potential to be better than his effort—telling him he had heart but also calling him a "tomato" and "leg breaker for some cheap second-rate loan shark" among other endearments, and putting Rocky out of his gym locker preceding the "freak luck" opportunity that comes Rocky's way, and Rocky is initially skeptical of Mickey's motives and timing for wanting to train Rocky for the big fight. Rocky's good friend Paulie (Burt Young), a meat-packing-plant worker, lets him practice his punches on the carcasses hanging in the freezers. Rocky courts and eventually dates Paulie's shy, quiet sister, Adrian (Talia Shire), who works as a clerk in a local pet store. He draws Adrian out of her shell and, as Rocky's girlfriend, she begins to gain in confidence. Paulie, however, is jealous of the relationship. The night before the fight, Rocky privately tours the Spectrum and notices the photograph of him wearing the wrong colored shorts. Mr. Jergens tells Rocky the incorrect photograph doesn't really matter. Dejected, Rocky confides to Adrian that he does not expect to beat Creed and that all he wants is to go the distance because no one had ever gone the distance with Creed. On New Year's Day, the climactic boxing match begins. Apollo Creed has never taken the fight seriously, and Rocky unexpectedly knocks him down in the first round (the first time Creed has been knocked down in his professional career), embarrassing Creed, and the match turns intense. Creed's prediction that he would knockout Rocky in three rounds is quickly erased as the two fighters engage in a brutal match. Creed realizes that he has underestimated his opponent and desperately defends his title. The fight indeed lasts 15 rounds, with both fighters sustaining many injuries; Rocky suffers his first broken nose and debilitating trauma around the eye, and Creed sustains brutal blows to his ribs with substantial internal bleeding. As the match progresses, Creed's superior skill is countered by Rocky's apparently unlimited ability to absorb punishment, and his dogged refusal to be knocked out. As the final round bell sounds, with both fighters locked in each other's arms, an exhausted Creed vows "Ain't gonna be no re-match," to which an equally spent Rocky replies, "Don't want one." After the fight, multiple layers of drama are played out: sportscasters and audience are going wild; the promoter/ring announcer George Jergens announces over the loudspeaker that the match was "the greatest exhibition of guts and stamina in the history of the ring"; Rocky calls out repeatedly for Adrian, who runs down and comes into the ring as Paulie distracts the security personnel. As Jergens declares Apollo Creed the winner by virtue of a split decision (8:7, 7:8, 9:6), Adrian and Rocky embrace while they profess their love to one another, not caring about the result of the fight.